Providing directions from point A to point B may be treated as an information retrieval problem. In one example, actual routes that are traveled by people are received, and are stored in a database. When a person requests directions from point A to point B, a system searches the database to determine whether a route from A to B exists. If the route does exist, then the route may be provided as directions in response to the request. If no such route exists, then the system looks in the database for routes that have some amount of overlap with each other, and attempts to construct a route from A to B by joining known routes that overlap with each other. Rules may govern the degree of overlap that routes are to have before they can be joined.